What does Google’s Hummingbird update mean for your property’s website?
Google has celebrated its 15th birthday with an update called Hummingbird, which contains significant changes for its search algorithm. Hummingbird update entirely changes a critical part of the criteria determining the website ranking in Google search results.
This change is quite relevant in terms of search engine optimization (SEO) and is vital for everyone who would like their website to be shown on the top ranks when potential guests search on the Internet. Therefore, it is necessary to know about the changes and adapt to them.
As HotelRunner, we have collected tips for you to understand what this change means for your website and how you can make use of it.
Google looks for more than the keywords offer
The purpose of this update is to display more accurate and relevant results, just like all other algorithm updates powered by Google do. Google has decided that keywords alone are not enough for this and looks for more than the words related to the search. From now on, the current geographical location of users is also considered to be part of the search when a user types, let’s say, “the best hotel” to search on the Internet, thus the hotels close to the users location are displayed on the top ranks.
The content as a whole becomes more important
Good quality and original content has always been a key SEO criterion. Google takes this criterion to a higher level with Hummingbird, thus the context is also taken into account in addition to the words in the content of your website. Within this scope, the websites featuring phrases similar to keywords of a search are much more advantageous than those that are full of keywords only but do not bear quality content. For instance, it would be good if words such as “sea”, “sun”, “beach”, “hotel” are available on your website when some user googles the word “holiday”.
You can benefit from specific searches
You can benefit from the more focused searches of your potential guests, thanks to Hummingbird. Previously, when users searched “the best hotel with a swimming pool in X city”, the top ranks used to feature websites of large hotel chains or OTAs only, but now you also have the chance to assert yourself based on the content of your website. Therefore, your website content had better cater to the specific and focused searches of your guests.
Social media posts affect your rank
Posts about your property on social media were mostly related to your communication with your customers on social networks. They have become more important now with Hummingbird, as posts on Facebook, Twitter and especially on Google + can affect your rank on search results.
In conclusion, Google’s Hummingbird update is a significant development for properly-designed websites of properties and other key players in the accommodation industry. We believe that the approaches we have adopted as HotelRunner since the very beginning have become even more useful for you with the emergence of Hummingbird. If you still do not know about HotelRunner, create your account now and start to introduce your property to your potential guests in the most efficient way.
